“…Melanin, because of its broadband absorption characteristics, is efficient at converting photic to vibrational mode energy (22), and is certainly involved in tissue damage due to thermal and non-linear mechanisms (15,16,29). Now, there is increasing evidence that melanin, which forms a free radical when exposed to UV and visible wavelengths (8,21), may also be able to promote photochemical tissue damage (5,11,12,14,24,28). We initiated our investigations with the observation that during visible light exposure, RPE melanin rapidly oxidized ascorbic acid (vitamin C).…”